


A single word, uttered in anger

by Demona9999



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, But I wont, Gen, also they both tlak a lot which is probably weird with how bad their communication issues are, and that flashback to it during that part of how Jason came back to life in under the red hood, but hey this is fanfic we can pretend they can actually talk things out for a bit, but uuuh yeah its Jason so you should have expected that?, hes in a bit of shock here but wouldnt you be if your dead child suddenly came back from the dead, including DC apparently judging by that movie adaptation, past major character death, people seem to forget that Jason being in Hush was a thing that happened, this wont make much sense if you havent read the Hush comic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 05:23:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20109829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demona9999/pseuds/Demona9999
Summary: What if Jason had said Bruces name in Hush?





	A single word, uttered in anger

Tahlia mentioned he should see this new Hush character. Apparently he had a whole vendetta and plan against Batman, using a lot of his villains against him in a very complicated scheme. He had got in on that for one single reason.

He had wanted to see him. He had wanted to see Bruce, see his face as he let out his grievances. Wanted to see how Bruce would react to him even if he was appearing before him almost as a ghost. A small part of him was hoping he would see some… regret, at least. Something to make him stop putting his other plan into motion. But that stupid cowl was getting in the way of that. He used to be able to see Bruce's expression behind it pretty well, but he was out of practice on that. 

He had managed to catch the replacement and cut his throat, before Catwoman had snatched him away and left them alone. He didn’t know why Catwoman was seemingly working with Bruce at the moment, but they had always had a weird relationship. He had hoped to hurt the replacement more than that, but he could work with just hurting Bruce. He kicked him, headbutt him, complained about how he had always seen him as second rate and he asked him how he could have let him die as he just kept hitting him. 

Although he was beginning to get frustrated, because besides that initial tackle to get the replacement away and a couple of punches Bruce wasn’t really reacting much. Why wasn't he fighting back? 

“C’me on! Fight me!” Jason demanded as he delivered a kick in his face. The man was now bleeding from his nose, seemingly still stuck in whatever thoughts he was having. Probably thinking about how all this fit into the bigger scheme of the plan or something like that, instead of actually paying attention to him. Well, whatever he was thinking of, Jason was going to bring him out of it right then and there, he wouldn't just be ignored “Fight me Bruce!” 

He had expected him to react to that at least a bit, but somehow that last scream apparently got through completely as the man stopped whatever he had been attempting to do while trying to get back up to just stare back at him. “What… what did you just call me?” 

“I called you by your actual name, Bruce” he hissed back with hatred. 

“But… how do you know…?” the older man asked, so clearly confused Jason could tell even with the cowl still on him. 

“Have you not been listening to any of what I've just said old man?” he laughed cruelly “Or was I so forgotten that you even forgot I knew who you really were under that mask?” 

“...you can't be… you can't really be him… there's clay in the ground, you have to be Clayface pretending to be the Robin who died to try to get in my head” he replied. 

Jason looked at the grave for a second to confirm that yes, there was some clay in the mud. The plan was to switch with clayface when he exited the cemetery, but somehow the clay man must have left some leftovers around. This is what he got for working with other people. “It’s actually me” he said, flicking his tongue “I was planning to bring Clayface in later, but you know what? Fuck it. It's actually me here, Bruce. Jason Todd, in the flesh, not a ghost or some weird apparition. Just me” 

Bruce was clearly still unconvinced, looking at him with suspicion “...he wasn't this good…” he finally said, and that made Jason laugh. 

“I trained. I got better” he made a vague gesture to encompass all of himself “Or have you missed that I'm also older and taller? Well, I'm sure little old me was quite forgettable for you...” “No, I… I could never forget…” he muttered “I could never forget…” 

“...really? Because that's not what I see!” Jason said as he punched him again, the shock seemed to have rendered Bruce even more useless because he didn't even try to deflect or block him this time at all “You replaced me! Got a better and improved model and just left me behind!” 

“No, I … I didn't want any more Robins after… after what happened, I just…” he was actually looking at Jason now, scrutinizing his face with rapt attention. He must have found whatever he was looking for because he finally spoke again “...is it really you… Jason?” 

That actually made Jason pause. Hearing his own name coming from Bruce's lips again was strange after all those years. Especially because the man's voice had almost quivered with emotion at the word, like he was afraid to say it out loud, and that was something he hadn't really heard much from him before and much less when he was dressed as the Bat. 

“It's me, Bruce” he sighed, almost exasperated at how many times he was having to reaffirm it. He had expected Bruce to doubt him a bit, it was Bruce after all, but not this much. He should have clearly seen it was him by now, maybe he just needed another push. “Do you need some more proof it's me? Fine, how about this? You and Alfred have this hobby of collecting first edition books for the library, and when you took me in we started collecting more together. The last one we were searching for was ‘Sense and Sensibility’. We hadn’t managed to find one yet, before everything happened and I went to… to Ethiopia” 

The book collecting was such an overall insignificant but important detail. Something he had been planning to use in the other plan if this didn't work out, but it would do here. No one but Bruce, Alfred, probably Dick and himself knew about the book collecting. Much less the book they had been on the hunt for right before things had gone wrong. It seemed to do the trick as Bruce was now apparently convinced. 

“It’s you… Jason, it's really you, but how...?” he asked, already trying to rationalize his way around this “It couldn't have been the Lazarus pit, your head was too damaged, you wouldn't have been coherent if you came back through that. I thought about that” 

“To be honest I still don't know, there was a Lazarus pit involved at some point though” he answered, shrugging. He honestly didn’t know what had happened to bring him back, so there was no point in pretending he did, and he could understand Bruce’s confusion since the Lazarus pit didn’t do all the job but it had brought his mind back. There was something weird about that last part of Bruce's sentence tough “Also what the hell do you mean with you thought about it?” 

“... I thought about it before, about putting you in the Lazarus pit, but I… I didn't go through with it because I thought you wouldn’t be coherent, and I couldn't condemn you to a life like that” 

“Right, as if you actually cared enough about me to do such a thing” Jason sneered. It was ridiculous, Bruce would have never done something like that. Not for him anyway. Maybe if it had been the golden boy that died, but not for him, not the second rate the street trash. 

“It’s the truth” Bruce had the audacity to reply. 

“Don't lie to me!” he screamed again “You never cared about me! You never really have! I DIED!! I died and you just… you replaced me!! And never avenged me!!” 

“Avenge you? You mean... kill the Joker? Jason, you… you know I don't kill…” he said, but he looked aside for a moment, almost guiltily. 

“He killed me Bruce! He fucking killed me, if you truly cared you wouldn’t just let him walk away from that! Clearly your stupid code is more important to you than I ever was!” 

“It's not that, Jason, I… I almost killed him just the other day when I found him standing over Tomas body” for a moment Jason was confused about what the hell Bruce was talking about, until he remembered that part of this whole elaborate plan had involved Tomas Ellliot dying. Some old childhood friend of Bruce apparently, not that Jason had ever met the man before. The Joker had been right next to the body, and Batman had attacked him on sight, that was true. But to say he had almost killed him? 

“So an old childhood friend you've barely seen in years gets you closer to breaking the code than I did? Wow, that is even wor-” 

“I was thinking of you” Bruce interrupted. Jason just looked at him with obvious doubt “I thought of Barbara too, and I thought of Tomas who was right in front of me, I even thought of what could the Joker do to Catwoman as she tried to stop me, but I thought of you. I always think of you, when the Joker is involved. When I get so close to breaking my code and just end him once and for all, after making him suffer for all he did...” 

“...what stopped you?” the Joker had just been captured and sent back to Arkham as always after his encounter with Batman the other day. More beat up than usual, maybe, but alive nonetheless. “Gordon did, this time. But… I can't kill” he said again. The no killing rule had always been one of Bruce’s clear lines, but Jason just couldn't see why it was so damn important. 

“Why Bruce? Why can't you just kill him if you say you want it so much?” he groaned, feeling some of his anger give in to just frustration. He just couldn’t understand how could Bruce adhere to his code after what happened. “...he took me away from you” he whispered “I thought you would… I thought you would kill him for that. Because if he had taken you from me I would have killed him Bruce, I wouldn't have hesitated for a second” 

If Bruce had been killed Jason knew that's what he would have done, kill the clown and make sure he never hurt anyone again. So why couldn't Bruce do that for him? The only conclusion he could take was that Jason wasn't as important to Bruce as he was to him, that he had never seen him as his son, no matter what the adoption papers said. Everything that he had discovered after coming back from the dead seemed to confirm that view. 

“...I have come close so many times” Bruce confessed, “Right after you died I was going to do it, I might have if Superman had not stopped me from directly doing it. I... thought I had done it, even if it was indirectly, when I left him to die in a helicopter that went down. I thought he was dead, but he came back, and I’ve been so close to just… ending him. But I always stop, I can't kill” he looked at Jason almost with desperation “Jason, I can't. It would just be... too easy, if I do it, if I cross that line… I won't be able to stop. I would start to kill instead of trying to help. I would become another the many monsters of Gotham, I could no longer be what Batman is supposed to be” 

Jason had to take a moment to take all that in. Bruce had apparently tried to avenge him, even if he had been unsuccessful, he had almost broken his rule. Had broken it in a way, because Bruce had always tried to save his enemies from death traps they had gotten themselves in. His no kill rule was something Bruce imposed on himself not because it would be too hard, like Jason had assumed, but apparently because he was afraid to become what he fought every night. 

“Maybe Gotham needs something better than Batman, someone who can actually make that choice” he muttered softly, still trying to process. That was his other plan after all, become the vigilante Gotham truly needed. Jason had always thought that the no killing rule should be revoked for some people, some people just couldn't be stopped by a couple of punches and having some fear instilled in them. Some people just weren't afraid, and needed to be taken out. 

“It can't be me. No matter how much I want to, I can’t avenge you Jason… I’m sorry” Bruce seemed genuine about that. And Jason didn't know exactly how to feel about it. 

He had been hoping for regret, and he was actually getting that. But there were more problems Bruce had to answer for “...fine, let's say I believe you on that. You still replaced me like I was nothing” 

“I didn't replace you” Bruce immediately answered. 

“That other kid in a Robin costume whose throat I just sliced existence would seem to say otherwise” he scoffed, but Bruce just lowered his gaze, toughtfull. 

“I didn't want anyone else to be Robin after you. It was… it was my fault. I should have protected you, I had sworn I would, and yet... I let you die. It was all my fault. I… I wouldn't let anyone else step into that costume. But... the kid blackmailed me” 

“Wait, what? He blackmailed you?” he almost laughed, the idea of Bruce being blackmailed was honestly hilarious, but Bruce was clearly serious. 

“He knew who I was. He had figured it out years ago. He wanted to be Robin, said I needed one, that I needed someone so I wouldn't… I wouldn't go too far. And on some level I suppose I knew that I was… that I wasn't really handling it well, after I lost you. I did need someone. But I… I didn't want anyone else, Jason… I just threw myself into the mission to try to forget, I hoped that maybe if I just… if I just kept going, until there was nothing left of me, maybe it would stop hurting so much. But it didn't help… nothing helped…. It still hurts, everyday…” 

Jason’s anger had begun to fade at some point in the conversation, and even though it was still there he honestly couldn't bring himself to flare it up again, because Bruce seemed so… tired when he said that. Like thinking about the time after his death made him miserable, and those words had painted a picture Jason hadn't really considered. That his death had somehow made Bruce, a person he had considered an unstoppable force, Batman, so broken he couldn't even function without someone there to keep him in balance. Robin was supposed to take care of Batman, or at least that's what Jason had done when he was in the role, and this new kid apparently had stepped in just because Bruce was spiraling after his death. Which must mean… that Bruce actually did care. 

He had been so distracted by those thoughts he hadn't noticed Bruce moving closer, Jason almost immediately punched him to get him away, but… he was clearly not approaching to fight. Bruce was very slowly lifting his hands towards Jason's face, slowly reaching for his domino mask, and Jason could have easily stopped him, but he just let him take it off. He could see Bruce's breath catch at seeing his face completely exposed. 

“...your eyes are a different colour… that's the Lazarus pit isn’t it? And this too…” he kept one hand firmly on Jason's cheek while the other pet his hair, stopping on the white streak for a second. “You are so grown up… you even have beard stubble now” Jason could have sworn Bruce had almost smiled when saying that, as he kept looking at him with amazement “But it is you. I would have recognised you anywhere… it's really you, Jason… Jay…” 

That nickname was almost enough to make him break. It sounded so genuine, like Bruce was actually happy to see him again. Like this was real. Like that very small hope he had of seeing some regret or just emotion from Bruce when confronting him had actually come true. But Jason needed to see him, he needed to see if all this was real, and he couldn't see that when Bruce was still masked. 

“C-can you…?” he muttered, rising one hand towards the cowl. Bruce never removed it in exposed places if he could help it, but they were alone. Catwoman and the replacement had gone to fix that neck wound probably, the scarecrow was completely knocked out, and Clayface wasn't even near them. It was just them, just Bruce and Jason. Maybe he would give. 

Bruce actually took the cowl off, and Jason tried really hard not to gasp. He had seen him in newspapers and news videos when he was doing research, but those didn't really let him look at the real Bruce so up close. He looked so much older than he remembered, his face much more severe than it used to be, and the blood from all the hits he had gotten on him earlier didn't really help. He just looked incredibly worn down, like in those years they had been apart he had somehow aged double of what he should have. 

“Bruce… what happened to you?” he couldn't help but say, and Bruce just started to pet his hair again, looking at Jason with such raw emotion in his eyes. 

“I lost you, Jason. I lost my son and held his death body in my arms” the use of the word son so casually made Jason actually choke up despite his best efforts and Bruce immediately pulled him to let him hide his face in his shoulder. “Ssh, its okay… its okay now, I've got you… I’ve got you...” 

Jason remembered hearing Bruce say those exact words many times before. ‘I’ve got you’ seemed to be the words Bruce always said when he was comforting someone, and he had heard them many times back during his Robin days. When he had woken from a nightmare and Bruce had been there to make him feel better, or when he had been injured and needed to be carried, anytime Bruce had given him one of those hugs that had made him feel so secure and… loved. Like Bruce actually did have him and want him as his actual son, something he could scarcely believe, but that he had desperately wanted to. 

“Bruce what are you even saying…?” he let out a sad laugh, of all the things that could have happened during this confrontation he hadn’t expected this “You are talking as if… as if you are planning to just take me back....” 

“Of course I am, Jason” he replied without a second of hesitation. “You are coming back home, son” 

It would have been so easy to just let himself succumb to this seemingly sentimental moment Bruce was having and let him just hug him like old times again. But he couldn't do that, things had changed, he had changed. And Bruce had to know, because he couldn't let Bruce try to take him back just to be rejected again when he found out about all the things he had done. 

“Bruce, I-I've done so many terrible things…” he mumbled “During my training I’ve… I’ve done things you wouldn't approve of. And I was planning on doing worse, I just stabbed that kids throat for fucks sake! How can you… how can you just call me your son, after that, I… am not… you can't just accept me back” 

“Jason, you are back… I don't know how, and I don't know why...” Bruce mumbled, as he kept rubbing Jason's back and petting his hair, a comforting touch that Jason suspected Bruce also needed to reassure himself that Jason was actually there and not some kind of hallucination “I would have done anything to get you back. Anything. And now you are here… it's something I couldn't let myself hope would really happen” 

“I… I wanted to kill you. I had this whole plan I was going to start after this, I was going to force you to kill the Joker. I was going to hurt the replacement even more. I’m not… I’m not who I used to be” he replied, still trying to make Bruce reject him now, before he let himself hope “I’m not that little kid you knew anymore, you can't just… you can't just accept me back like it’s nothing” 

“You are Jason Todd. You are my son who I thought I had lost forever. And I just got you back” a very small smile actually appeared on his lips, and Jason had to blink to make sure he wasn't seeing things “Jay… you don't know how much I've missed you, how much I longed to be able to just talk to you again… to tell you just how much I love you….” 

“Wait, you… you love me…?” Jason asked, unable to process those exact words coming from Bruce. 

“Of course I love you” Bruce frowned a bit, seemingly confused by that question “I… didn't you know? I thought you knew… I know I didn't say it, I've regretted that for so long, but I thought surely you must have known...” Jason just shaked his head, unable to speak, he was glad that it was still raining because he was pretty sure some tears must have escaped him at that moment “Oh, Jay… my boy… I love you so much… I should have just told you… I should have never made you doubt that...” he kissed his forehead before he gripped him in a hug “Jason, you are my son and I will always love you, no matter what you've done or were planning to do… I have missed you so much” 

Jason had hoped to see regret. He had wanted to scream at Bruce’s face and at least see him crumble a bit, see if at least some part of Bruce had loved him, even just a small bit. That he had mattered. He hadn’t expected this. He hadn’t expected for Bruce to welcome him back into his arms with words of love that he had longed to hear since he was twelve. 

Very slowly Jason moved his arms, finally hugging Bruce back. Hesitantly at first, before he just completely gave in and desperately hugged as he clutched at the cape and hid his face on his shoulder. “Bruce…. Bruce I… I've missed you too”

**Author's Note:**

> Look the Hush movie happened and I had to reread the comic and I was a bit salty they took Jason out(between other things, but lets not get into that) so this happened.  
But I have always wondered, had he said Bruce name would he have realized it was actually him? Also how come I have never seen a fic of this kinda thing? Theres a couple of under the red hood going better kind of ones but not with Hush, or at least I havent found any if they exist


End file.
